Australia's Humma Cranes has launched a new chassis for its 55 tonne Humma 55 heavy duty pick and carry crane. 

Working with specialist commercial and special vehicle suspension systems company Hemscheidt Fahrwerktechnik the new chassis features a new modular hydropneumatic suspension and damping system which can be adapted to various vehicle configurations. The system has already been used for construction, mining and special vehicles including fire engines.

Peter Dalla Riva, divisional head of crane and engineering at Humma Cranes said: "There is strong interest in the crane from a number of industries outside the core markets of mining and heavy construction because of the improved use of the crane by the suspension and damping system from Hemscheidt Fahrwerktechnik. In contrast to steel suspension, the spring stiffness is not constant in this system, but depends on the load on the gas spring. During loading and unloading, the hydropneumatic suspension system returns to its level position in fractions of a second. This provides safety and comfort for the driver, one of Humma Cranes' key requirements for the suspension system.“

"It is the beginning of the heavy lift, high tech era of pick and carry cranes. There is no technical reason why a 75 or 100 tonne Humma could not be built to meet market demand." 

Mark Wöhrmann, managing director of Hemscheidt Fahrwerktechnik added: "Our system is currently in vehicles that carry a load of 400 tonne. We are ready for the Humma 400."

Humma has been manufacturing pick & carry cranes since 1996 as a DRA Engineering group company. The Humma 55 has been on test in a mine in Western Australia since the end of last year.